Simonetta Alessandri

Simonetta Alessandri is a dancer, teacher and choreographer, who uses improvisation as a teaching and research method.

Staff details

Simonetta Alessandri

Position

Associate lecturer

Department

Theatre and Performance

Email

drama (@gold.ac.uk)

Simonetta Alessandri is a dancer, teacher and choreographer, who has been living in London for 5 years after a lifetime spent in Italy. In addition to her teaching at Goldsmiths, she also teaches at the Laban Center, the London Contemporary Dance School, Independent Dance and Moving East.

She trained in Europe and USA first in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary and then Contact Improvisation, Improvisation and Feldenkrais®.

She obtained the T.C.  Royal Academy of Dancing®, she is a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais® and she received her PG Diploma in Choreography at London Contemporary Dance School.

After years of dancing with Companies in Italy she began collaborating with various directors and musicians as a performer and choreographer in Theatre, Opera and Site Specific performance. Since 1995 she has made her own choreography and her work has been performed in Italy, UK, Germany, Colombia, Turkey and Japan.

She has been teaching in Italy for more than 20 years (First Ballet and then Contemporary Dance, Contact Improvisation and Feldenkrais®). She kept Contact Improvisation alive in Rome through her classes and jams for 10 years and she started the organization RomaContact to support and develop C.I. in Italy.

She has taught in Germany, Colombia, Norway, Israel, France  and Taiwan in dance institutions such as Tanzfabrik Berlin, CNDN Angers and IALS Rome. I She is a member of S.o.F.T., a collective  researching and creating improvised performances.

Teaching

  • Contact improvisation, Improvisation, Composition on the BA Drama and Theatre Arts and the MA in Performace Making.
  • Presentations and exhibitions
  • Selected research practise and performances 

2012

 Choreography: Dog Roses The Place Theatre Resolution! London

2011

Two weeks research for students  at London Contemporary Dance School Feldenkrais into Choreographic process

2010

Improvised Performance: Numero Due Display Festival Goldsmiths  University London.

2010-2009

Improvised Performances with SOFT in London: In the Moment Festival Trinitylaban- Roehampton University- Chisenale

2010

Back selected for 40th Anniversary The Place Theatre

2009

Choreography: Back The Place Theatre London

2009

 Pratical Research: Project Weave The Feldenkrais Method as Choreographic   Process London Metropolitan University

2009/2005/2003

Conference: ECITE European Contact Improvisation Teacher’s Exchange Europe

2008

Choreography: Segni Mobili  London Contemporary Dance School

2008

Conference: CI 36 Anniversary Celebration Teacher’s Exchange USA

2006/2005

Choreography: Animarmonica  MDA Produzioni Danza Teatro Vascello Rome and Tour Lazio e Campania

2005/2003

Improvised Performance Real Time Zip Festival Orvieto Italy

2005

Improvised Performance: About Two  Teatro Campo Barbarico Rome Italy

2005

Creation of RomaContact association for supporting and developing Contact Improvisation and researching in Improvisation in Italy

2004

Improvised Performance for Israeli Festival Tel Aviv Israel

2004

Choreographer for Opera Le Trachinie Teatro Vascello Rome and Italian Tour and Japan, Turkey

Research Interests

Interests:

  • Improvisation\ Contact Improvisation in Performance
  • Composition in Improvisation
  • Relationships between Improvisation and Choreography
  • Feldenkrais as source for Choreographic process
  • Embodied Voice

Applications of The Feldenkrais Method in dance/ movement training and performance making. Specifically exploring strategies that support the transfer of learning experiences from somatic exploration to dance improvisation and onto the creation of personal vocabularies and choreography.